"In our morning meeting today, we were talking about this and the level of hatred people have towards Anne Hathaway; I had no idea. She seems like a perfectly lovely person," Cooper mused of the Best Supporting Actress victor. "I don't understand. She's incredibly talented, she seems like a lovely person, I think she's been through a lot. People have all these judgments about her; they don't know what she's really like ... It upset me."

When a co-host sniped that Hathaway's Oscar speech was "terrible," Cooper argued back, "She got up there, she made eye contact, she remembered people's names without reading it. I mean, give her a break."

He continued of the star, who took the extra step of later explaining why she ditched her Valentino gown for a Prada creation on Oscar Sunday, "the amount of pressure she must feel knowing all these people hate her -- give her a break; she seems like a lovely young person. Again, people form all these opinions on people based on nothing. You have no actual evidence."

Cooper clarified, "I've got no dog in this hunt. I don't know Anne Hathaway. It just seems so completely unfair to me. I had no idea this whole hatred existed, I feel like I've just woken up and realized the entire universe is attacking her and I feel bad for her and I am defending her."